Juliana Woodland and Nate Jacobs have been best friends for as long as they can remember.
They are now in their junior year and East Highland High School and things are starting to get complicated.
*Had this story up on my old account and it got del...
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The sky was just starting to get dark as Juliana and Nate stepped out of his truck and into the bustling parking lot of the mall. The Christmas lights that decorated the large building twinkled, casting a festive glow over everyone that walked inside.
"I don't know how you come here without a list." She said as they approached the gleaming doors, her eyes sparkling with the excitement of the season. "In ten minutes, you're going to be saying you don't know what you need to get."
"That's why you're here," he replied with a good-natured smirk.
She playfully rolled her eyes. "You're lucky I love Christmas shopping."
Once inside the mall, they were greeted by a symphony of carols playing over the loudspeakers and the scent of coffee and cinnamon that wafted from the nearby kiosks.
They decided to start at one of her favorite stores, a quaint little boutique that had become a tradition for their holiday shopping sprees. It was a place where she could always find that perfect gift for someone, and a little something for herself.
She immediately dove into the racks of sweaters, her eyes lighting up as she pulled out one after another, holding them up for Nate's approval.
"What do you think, mom would love this, right?" She asked, draping a soft purple sweater over her arm.
He nodded, his eyes lingering on the fabric for a moment too long before snapping back to reality. "Yeah, that's really nice."
She brought the sweater and a few cute little ornaments she found to the counter and laid it all down.
"Oh, one second," She said as the grey-haired woman wearing a Santa hat behind the cash register started ringing in her items.
She went to a display of earrings that caught her eye, but changed her mind and turned to go back. Nate was already walking towards her with a shopping bag in his hand.
"Did you just pay for that?!" She exclaimed. She should have known better than to walk away. "I know you never let me pay for anything but Christmas shopping is different!"
He laughed in a way that made her heart race, and she had to resist the urge to grab him and kiss him. Ever since the night before when she brought up them having sex, she couldn't get it out of her head and it was starting to make her feel like she was going insane. She didn't know it was possible to crave someone so much.
They meandered through the mall, dodging shoppers who were rushing by with their hands full of bags. Juliana liked to take her time and try not to hurry and be stressed out like most people there were.
Nate would be content to order what he needed on Amazon and have it show up at his door, but he knew how much she loved going to the mall to do her shopping, and he loved going with her just as much.
Sometimes it was easy to forget that once upon a time, their relationship had been anything other than friendship, until they shared a glance or touch that held a little more weight than it used to.
